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Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal wants a big ramp up in spending on Washington public schools in the next state budget.
How big? Try $2.9 billion.
A third of those new dollars would go to fully fund special education. Another $695 million to add and retain classified staff with higher pay. And $350 million is sought to cover inflationary costs of materials and supplies.
Those are the largest sums in the 2025-27 budget request Reykdal sent to Gov. Jay Inslee, who will consider it as he pens the spending plan he’ll put out in December. That document will be a template for the next governor and budget writers in the state Legislature in the 2025 session.
“No matter how you look at the numbers, Washington currently underfunds K–12 education by around $4 billion per year,” Reykdal wrote Inslee on Monday. “I know that you and lawmakers will have some very difficult decisions to make, but our students and families need the state to step up and affirm the importance of public education.”
In the current two-year operating budget, Washington is spending roughly $30.6 billion of the general fund – the cache of state tax dollars used to fund day-to-day operations – on public schools, according to figures supplied by Reykdal’s office. That works out to 43%, down from the high-water mark of over 50% in 2019, he wrote.
Right now, he notes, the state is not living up to its constitutional obligations to cover the full costs of basic education which, he said, starts with fully funding special education.
On special education, he is seeking $1 billion – $300 million next fiscal year and $700 million the following year. This would enable lifting a cap on state funding for special education programs and covering these services for those up to age 22. Reykdal also wants to track increases in enrollment of students in need of special services.
Student transportation is another area the state is not providing adequate funding. Reykdal asks for $152.5 million in the next budget “to provide reliable transportation to and from school for special passengers, including special education students, homeless students, and students in foster care.”
Funding for materials, supplies, and operating costs, or MSOC, is not keeping pace with inflation. Reykdal is seeking $350.7 million in the next two-year cycle to deal with a nearly 9.5% surge of costs.
“School districts’ purchasing power has decreased because of inflation,” he explains in the budget request. “When districts aren’t sufficiently resourced to cover the costs of the basics, they have to make cuts elsewhere—to programs, staffing, and other areas.”
He is pushing for $695 million to solidify the ranks of classified staff whom he describes in the request as “the foundation of a functioning K–12 education system.” This group of employees include paraeducators, health services workers, clerical professionals and IT technicians.
The bulk of the new dollars would go into those four areas. But Reykdal is seeking funds for several other services and programs because, he told Inslee, “schools today are expected to do everything from feeding and educating students, to supporting, protecting, and nurturing their developmental, physical, and mental health.”
And that is on top of additional dollars to maintain existing programs in which costs are rising.
For example, 70% of students are getting free meals this school year. It will take another $17.4 million to maintain the program, according to the budget request.
Reykdal will discuss the request at a news conference on Monday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. It will be streamed live on TVW.